During a box line manufacturing process of computer systems, the first step an operator performs is to assemble a unit (hereafter called a system under test, or SUT) from a kit of parts. This is normally done in a unique physical area known as “Assembly”. A manufacturing line layout may dictate that there are many separate areas for the manufacturing process, including an assembly area, an attended test area, an unattended test area, a hi-pot (high potential) testing area, and a debug area.
Lack of a single, unified architecture for representing the end-to-end manufacturing process limits the efficiency of the process. For example, there is no control mechanism to start concurrent tasks on an SUT or a group of SUTs, track those tasks, and ensure that all tasks are completed correctly and within an allotted time period. Thus, when SUT problems or hangs disable an SUT from reporting the problem and maintaining process control, the disabled machine could potentially sit for hours until an operator explicitly addressed it. Further, a control mechanism is lacking that can support a variety of operating systems and configurations being assembled, such as 32-bit Linux™, 64-bit Linux™, 32-bit Windows™, 64-bit Windows™, 32-bit EFI™, 64-bit EFI™, and DOS. These operating systems run on Itanium, BladeCenter™, BladeCenter JS20 (based on the IBM Power4™ chip), eServer pSeries, and Intel x86-based machines, as are available from IBM Corporation of Armonk, N.Y.
Accordingly, a need exists for a unified manufacturing process representation and control for more efficient order processing in a manufacturing environment. The present invention addresses such a need.